Carry On
by BibiNicole94
Summary: This is a story about Eva Lynn Ainsworth, Lysander's cousin who had just lost both of her parents in a horrific car crash. As her Aunt and Uncle are her only living relatives she is put into their custody. She chooses to live with Leigh and Lysander in the city of Sweet Amoris, and soon meets everybody's favorite rebellious red-head. Note: This is set AFTER the game's content.
1. Chapter 1: A New Start

(Author's Note: This is officially the first fan fiction that I've written since I was 16. Please, let me know what you think as readers! Eva Lynn Ainsworth is the only OC that will be in this story, until later. Every other character is owned by the wonderful creator of My Candy Love. Enjoy!)

 **Carry On # 1: A New Start**

I watched cars and scenery pass by through the window of my aunt and uncle's beat up, old car. We chugged along on the highway as the two of them engaged in a conversation that I was too young to care about. I was lost in my own thoughts about recent events: Mom, Dad and I were on our way to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Sweet Amoris for the first time since I was four years old. We were driving on the interstate singing along to our favorite 80's classic rock songs. The weather was beautiful, and all was well. I couldn't wait to become reacquainted with my cousins, maybe even get to meet some of their friends. And then…

Everything goes black.

I woke up in a hospital bed, connected to machines, a tube down my throat, needles pumping water and painkillers into my bloodstream. It was worse than any horror movie that I've ever seen. Mostly because it was a real-life nightmare. All that I could think was that I wanted to see my Mom and Dad. When the doctor finally took the breathing tube out, I asked for them. I was only regarded with looks of pity.

"Eva?" My Aunt, Josiane, said. She broke me away from my painful thoughts. I responded with a soft _hum_ , and she continued. "Would you prefer living with George and I on the farm, or would you rather live with Leigh, in the city?"

"I have a choice?" I asked. It really seemed like some sort of joke, used to get me to talk.

"Well, you would have to check in weekly, like they do. But yes, you do have a choice.

"Can I stay with Leigh, and see how things go?"

"Of course. Get some rest, now. We will be in the city in an hour or so."

Rest. Josiane didn't have to say that twice. I was asleep without a second thought.

I woke up in a bed, in a room that I didn't recognize. Unfamiliar voices conversed in the other room. Two male and one female. Blackness washed over my vision, once again.

~Lysander's P.O.V.~

"…She was lucky to have only gotten a few stitches and a minor concussion…" My brother, Leigh said quietly as I walked into the apartment. Like usual, Rosa had beaten me home-probably due to the fact that she skipped last period.

"Castiel will be here soon." I said as they looked up at me.

"Mom and Dad stopped by today." Leigh's voice was solemn, very unlike him. And very unlike our parents to stop by and not wait for me to get off from school. Something was definitely off. "Do you remember Dad's younger sister, Grace; and her husband, Derrick?"

A long moment passed as I struggled to remember the faces of those familiar names. It wasn't often that Aunt Grace and her family was mentioned. The very last time that I remember them being mentioned was when my grandparents passed away, and their names weren't said with joy. The last time that I had seen them was at least ten years ago. "Not well. I remember that their daughter had the same eye condition that I do. And that they got into an argument with our parents for refusing to attend Grandma and Grandpa's funerals. What was our cousin's name…Emily? Evelyn? Ellie?"

"Eva." My brother sighed, offering as much of a half-smile as he could.

"Ah, yes, that does sound about right. Why do you bring them up, after all this time?"

"Lys-Baby, you should sit." Rosa said. Her hand lay gently on Leigh's knee, and the look on her face played on my heart strings like a skilled guitarist. There were tears in her golden eyes. Now, I most definitely could not doubt that something was going on. Something, most likely not good. Silently, I sat on the black leather armchair, right across from the matching love seat that the couple occupied and raised an eyebrow, curiously. They exchanged sad glances and her amber gaze locked onto me, after a few moments of awkward silence. "Lysander…they were on their way for a surprise visit, and got into a car crash. Aunt Grace and Uncle Derrick…they didn't make it." Rosa explained, tears finally fell down her cheeks. It didn't surprise me that she had called them "Aunt" and "Uncle" as if they were her own family. Rosalya has been with Leigh for so long, she practically IS family.

Without a reasonable thought, I stood. The blood seemed to rush out of my head, and I had to sit back down before collapsing. The time that it took for me to struggle for an appropriate response, seemed like an eternity. Then, I realized that she hadn't mentioned Eva. "…you aren't serious…what about Eva?"

Slowly, Leigh cradled his head in his hands for a moment, before lifting it to speak. "I wish this wasn't serious. Eva managed to get away with a minor concussion, a few stitches and road rash. Very lucky. The way that the car flipped, she should have been dead."

"What is happening with her? Foster care?"

"Well, since Mom and Dad are her only living relatives, and since there were no listed god parents for her, she was put in their care. They asked if she wanted to live here, or the farm, and she chose to live here and see how she adjusts."

I sighed, very relieved that my cousin wasn't going into the system, and that I would actually get to see her. "Where is she now, in the hospital?"

My door opened with its' signature long, drawn out creek. I looked over to see her. Half of her hair was its' natural dark cherry color, but the other half was dyed black and her waist-length tresses were messy and curling into itself at the ends. Her blue and gold colored eyes were droopy, and seemed to be focused on something far away. "Eva, how are you feeling?" She walked by as if I hadn't said a thing. "Eva?" I said, a little bit louder. She continued walking, right out of the door.

~Castiel's P.O.V.~

After school got out I went straight home to let my dog, Demon, out as I did every single day. I was in no rush, but was betting that Demon was. Luckily for him, school was only a couple of blocks away from home. I opened the sliding glass door, and Demon ran outside so quickly, you would think that there was a fire. A few minutes later, he was back in front of the door tail wagging, ecstatically. When I let him back in, Demon happily let out a loud bark and jumped up at me, laying his massive paws on my shoulders. Big dogs are, most definitely, the best dogs to have. "I gotta go to Lysander's, bud. I'll be back later." Demon responded with a very sad whine and stalked away with his tail between his legs.

I grabbed my guitar and amp, the plans were to have a nice practice in the school's basement. Demon whined again and sat in front of the door with a discontented growl-whine hybrid type of sound. It was painfully obvious that he didn't want me to go. I wished I could have taken him with me. "I'll be back later." I repeated, patting him on the head. He whined again. "I'll take you on a nice, long walk when I get back. How does that sound?" Demon thumped his tail on the floor a few times, and then stalked away with a growl.

The short walk to Lysander and Leigh's apartment was made to be a pain because I had to drag my guitar and slightly heavy amp with me. It definitely wasn't anything that I wasn't used to, although the stairs were proving to be quite the challenge.

As I rounded the corner that would take me to their second-floor apartment door, a girl fell down the stairs. It was hard to tell if she had done it on purpose, if it was on accident, or if she was pushed. I didn't have time to drop my amp to try keeping her from the inevitable connection with the ground that gravity promised. She landed on her arm, and her head hit the concrete wall with a loud _thud_. "Woah!" I exclaimed, putting my amp on the ground. She whimpered, cradled her head with her forearms, and I knelt down beside her to help her sit up slowly. Lysander rushed to her side.

"Ow." She grumbled, even sitting she was off balance. Her eyes looked up at Lysander, who was panic stricken. Instantly, I noticed that they were very similar. Both had Heterochromia where one eye was a golden-yellow color, Lysander's other eye was green, and hers was blue. That couldn't have been a coincidence.

"Eva, are you okay? Why would you do that?" he asked her, frantically.

Still holding onto her head, she struggled to focus on him. "Where am I?" she yawned.

"You…don't remember being dropped off? My parents brought you here after you were discharged from the hospital. Do you remember Leigh and I?"

"Well…yeah. You're only the coolest cousins that I could have asked for. How…how did I get down here, though? I was sleeping." Eva continued to hold the back of her head, which got most of the impact of the wall.

"You just walked out of the apartment. Your eyes were open, and everything…oh! Hello Castiel." I frowned in response. Did he _really_ JUST notice me? "Do you need help with your things? I didn't know that you'd be here so soon."

I chuckled. "Looks like she needs more help that I do." I stood and picked my amp back up and readjusted my guitar on my back so that it was more comfortable.

Then, if looks could kill, Eva would have stricken me down twenty minutes ago. "I can take care of myself, thank you." She grumbled, pushing Lysander away from her, then slowly stood herself up. I was sure that she would stumble her way down the other set of stairs, so I stood in front of them.

"Says the girl who sleepwalked her way down a set of stairs." I mumbled.

"Lysander, please assist the princess with her amplifier." She sneered.

Fury replaced any lack of emotion on my face as I glared down at her. For someone so small, she definitely had a mouth. "Come again?"

Eva had her hands on her hips, and still threw bolts of lightning at me with her eyes. "Did I stutter, Princess?"

"If anyone is the princess, here, it's you." I smirked as I pushed past the two. Like he usually did in most tense situations, Lysander had backed away and kept his mouth shut. Smart move, if you ask me.

As I began making my way up the stairs, Eva pushed past me, making sure that she stomped on my foot as hard as she could. Which really wasn't all that hard. "Oops! Sorry. Princess." Eva sneered with a devilish laugh.

"Too bad, it didn't hurt. You might wanna put a little meat on your bones, if you really want something like that to hurt." I shot back.

"Must you clash with everyone, Castiel?" Lysander sighed, making his way up the stairs as well. "You haven't even been here for five minutes, and you've already pissed someone off."

"Maybe your little cousin should learn some manners."

Eva whipped around, her half black and half red hair brushed against my nose. It smelled eerily of hospital and vanilla. "Manners?" she scoffed. "I'm sorry for not thanking you for NOT catching me as you clearly saw me sleepwalk my way down the stairs. I didn't realize that you had done anything that justified me showing you 'manners'."

"Like I would risk breaking my amp, just for some little girl that I don't even know. Maybe if your boobs were-" the glare of death that Lysander was sending my way cut me off. Then, my gaze naturally landed on Eva's breasts-which happened to be a lot bigger that what I had originally assumed. My face warmed as blush crept its' way onto my cheeks. And then, Eva slapped me.

"Keep your eyes to yourself, perv." She growled. The door slammed loudly behind her, then another from inside of the apartment.

"Feisty." I smirked, rubbing the part of my cheek where she had slapped. It stung, but probably not as badly as she was hoping.

"You could say that." Lysander responded with an identical smirk. "I don't remember her having such a loose temper."

Lysander and I walked into the apartment, and I was greeted with a very angry Rosalya. "Castiel, why are you always such a jerk!?" she shrieked, poking her index finger into my chest. I hadn't seen her that angry for a long time. "Poor Eva has been through so much, and you go and make her cry!"

"I made her…she called me 'Princess'! She slapped me!"

"And you wonder why you can't hold a relationship!" Rosalya stomped away, slamming Lysander's bedroom door behind her.

"What does this have to do with my previous relationships?" I asked, to neither Leigh nor Lysander in particular.

"My poor door…" Lysander muttered, sitting in the newly vacant spot beside Leigh.

"Women are so fickle." Leigh sighed.

~Eva's P.O.V.~

I was crying into the plush, dark green pillow when the bedroom door slammed. Immediately, I wiped the tears off of my cheeks, and glared at whoever walked into the room. "I gave that butt head, Castiel, a piece of my mind for you." The girl huffed. I assumed that she was either Leigh or Lysander's girlfriend. She was most definitely a beautiful girl. "My name is Rosalya. You can just call me Rosa. Leigh already filled me in on everything that's happened. I'm sorry about him, Castiel. I mean, he can be a real jerk sometimes. But usually he doesn't make girls cry."

"He didn't really make me cry…didn't really bother me at all. I guess I just, I don't know…lost my composure after he said that I couldn't take care of myself." I said, shakily. Castiel…he definitely was cute.

"I understand." Rosa sighed. She began talking about something, but I fell asleep shortly after she started.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Sweet Amoris

**Carry On… #2: Welcome to Sweet Amoris**

Less than a week after the car crash, my aunt and uncle had me enrolled into Sweet Amoris High School. It took a little convincing, and a lot of "I'm okay, really" lines, on my part. I really didn't see it necessary to keep me away from school, just because my parents had died. I just wanted to move on with what life I had left. And frankly, sitting around doing absolutely nothing was driving me more insane than my parents being gone did. I hadn't seen much of Castiel since our hyper dramatic meeting other than a few times when he had come over, only to take Lysander wherever the hell they went with that guitar and amp. Oh how I missed my guitar! At times, I found myself wondering exactly how much convincing that Castiel would need, in order for me to play his guitar for just a short hour. I even managed to write some song lyrics. But part of me knew that I would never be able to put them to use again. My band was all the way in California. And I hadn't even thought to try contacting them, at all. They probably hated me. With a sigh, I cradled my left arm-which needed to be babied since I had managed to get a hairline fracture on my radius from sleepwalking my way down the stairs. Really, the damned thing only hurt if I bumped it against anything. I didn't feel the need to wear anything special for my first day of school, just black skinny jeans, a red tank top, my favorite black leather jacket and red and black checkered Converse high-tops. It took me a matter of twenty minutes to straighten my half black, half red hair to perfection-a new record! Of course I was extra careful to make sure that my bangs would cover my yellow eye. I wasn't as secure with the Heterochromia as my cousin, Lysander, was. I lined my eyes with black, liquid eyeliner; making sure to carefully and perfectly create a "cat's eye" effect-"Cleopatra makeup" one of my friends always called it. I didn't even bother to put foundation or powder on, for once not a single pimple invaded my face.

Lysander walked beside me, silently, delved deep into his own thoughts, as was I. I thought about my parents, as we walked. It seemed like just yesterday we were heading here for a visit, and now… "I still expect them to come pick me up and tell me that all of this was just a cruel prank, even though I watched them be buried."

"It just feels like a nightmare." Lysander muttered, echoing my thoughts to perfection.

"What?" I didn't understand why he had suddenly spoken.

"I was responding to what you just said." He said, as if it were a matter of fact.

"I didn't say anything. Other than 'what?'…and this sentence."

"You did. You said: "I still expect them to come pick me up-"

"Was I thinking out loud?" I hummed. It was weird that I hadn't realized that I just spoke.

"I guess you were." Lysander sighed, voice monotoned yet soft and comforting. "I apologize for intruding on your vocalized intrapersonal dwellings."

"My what?"

"I think out loud, too. Usually when I'm very stressed out, though. Although, I'd say that 'stressed out' would be quite the understatement, given your situation."

From the corner of my eye, I watched Lysander's notebook falling onto the ground from his jacket's pocket. Lysander continued on, muttering about "vocalized intrapersonal dwellings". Whatever that meant. I grabbed the fallen notebook and stashed it inside of my backpack. When I caught back up to him, he hadn't even noticed me falling behind at all. Lysander continued: "-I hope you understand that you can talk to us."

"About what?" I asked, as casually as possible.

"…Anything. Everything."

"Oh. Well, you guys are family. I know I can talk to you and Leigh-Rosa, too-about anything." I said with a broad, toothy smile.

Lysander smiled back at me, softly. "Is anything bothering you, right now?" he asked.

I took a moment to think, before just outwardly responding. "Not really, no. I mean, my arm is a little sore today. And, I guess I might be feeling a little nervous about school."

"It's nice to see that you aren't stressing the bigger issues in life."

"Like what?"

"Most teenagers would be crushed if they lost their parents…" he said, now frowning.

"Well…I am. I just…don't feel it. I guess." I almost muttered after a long, awkward pause. That seemed weird. I'm crushed, but don't feel it? It made no sense.

"Fair enough." Lysander chimed, then pointed to a large grey building with a bus stop in front of it. "Almost there. You do have everything that you'll need, right?"

"Photo I.D., money, paperclip, boobs, vagina, hair, eyes, nose-"

"Thank you…as if I needed your anatomy pointed out to me." Lysander said with a long sigh.

"You asked." I scoffed.

As we approached the bus stop, the familiar aroma of cigarette smoke teased my nose and made my mouth water with excitement. Lysander scrunched his nose up in displeasure-obviously we had different tastes when it came to nicotine. When the source finally came into view, my heart skipped a beat. It was Castiel who was smoking a cigarette. And not just ANY cigarette. My favorite brand, Marlboro Smooth. I swooned. It had been a total of 2 weeks since I last smoked, and I hadn't realized until this VERY point in time. "Must you smoke IN FRONT of the school, Castiel?" Lysander said, smirking at his friend. "The principal can see you, you know."

Castiel took a long drag from his cigarette before bothering to reply. "Yes." He blew smoke out of his lungs. "And I don't really give much of a shit." He flicked the ashes off of the end of the cigarette, then, his eyes turned to me. Up and down, the grey gaze studied my body, and my cheeks burned as blush creeped onto them. Lysander raised an eyebrow. "Didn't think your parents would have put her in school so soon." Another drag.

"Neither did they, she insisted." Lysander responded, almost curtly.

"Can I bum one of those off of you?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't crossing a boundary. I just REALLY wanted to smoke.

Lysander frowned, and Castiel looked downright shocked. As if a girl asking for a cigarette weren't a common occurrence. "I'm not sure I should do that…" Castiel said, carefully. His eyes were locked onto Lysander's, as if he was silently asking permission.

"Pleeeeeaaaaase!" I begged him, doing the best impression of a sad puppy that I could, complete with eyelash batting and fake tears. "I'm dying! It's been, like, almost two weeks since the last cigarette I smoked!"

Lysander's eyebrows knitted together, and he looked much more displeased than what he did when he noticed Castiel checking me out. "You've smoked before? You're fifteen."

"I'll be sixteen in a couple of months!" I shot back, feeling angrier than what I should have been. "Besides, I had a life before my parents died. And I wasn't some cookie baking goodie-two-shoes with a white picket fence outside of my house type of princess, either." Pushing my anger aside, I smiled as innocently as I could have. "I started when I was thirteen. I was dating a boy-Nick, he was sixteen at the time, eighteen, now-he told me that if I didn't smoke cigarettes, pot and give him head, I couldn't be his girlfriend. I mean, I liked him, so-"

"I'll just leave you two to your cancer." Lysander muttered, already heading toward the school. He didn't even give me the chance to ask where I needed to go.

Castiel lit a second cigarette and held it out to me. "I haven't seen him get angry that quickly since my ex tried to convince me to go on tour with her." He chuckled.

Before I bothered replying, I placed the cigarette to my lips and took the longest drag off of a cigarette that I had ever taken in my entire life. The minty flavored nicotine tickled my taste buds, and stimulated my salivary glands to the point where I had to spit the great amount of liquid out before talking. "He shouldn't be. I was thirteen, I made mistakes. I was stupid. And besides, that guy is LONG gone. To me, anyway. Another long drag off of the cigarette. "If Lys knew everything about that relationship, I'm sure he would be blowing steam from his ears. And aside from that, if I didn't start smoking because of Nick, I'd have started smoking because of my friends."

"Your ex was that bad?" Castiel said with a small smirk.

I moved my bangs away from my eye, and pushed them back to show the white scar that started at the end of my eyebrow and stretched to my ear. It was the scar that always reminded me to stay away from him. "He cheated on me, one of the many times that we were together, after a short break. When I confronted him he smashed a beer bottle over my head and told me that it was my fault, because I wouldn't have sex with him. Because he _needed_ more than just oral. Then, he dumped me. My parents were furious about the abuse. A few months later, he came back into my inbox begging for me back. I told him no. He threatened to kill my parents, himself, me, my friends, even my Goddaughter. He's gone as far as contacting all of them, and explaining in detail in voice messages how he would kill them all. Every time that I've changed my number, he finds it. We all have even gone as far as getting restraining orders. It just makes him angrier. He's fucking crazy."

"Wow. I mean…that actually pisses me off. And I don't even really know you." Castiel sighed, heavily. He took another long, almost thoughtful drag off of his cigarette.

"Well, my name is Eva Lynn Ainsworth. Welcome to my nightmare!" I giggled, after taking an equally long and thoughtful drag. I didn't know if I should have mentioned the fact that the relationship had only ended a little over six weeks ago, and the threats had continued coming in-thus leading us on our little road trip. I wondered if Nick would laugh, knowing that we had been in a crash, and that my parents had passed away.

I studied Castiel as he stubbed his cigarette out on the sidewalk. Red hair-dyed, judging from the black roots that sprouted from his scalp-great style-black leather jacket, black skinny-styled jeans (but not exactly skinny, because the fabric didn't cling to his legs like a leech)-really cute face, captivating grey eyes. He definitely was a dream. A dream that seemed to enjoy looking my body up and down. "Castiel! Why don't you stop wasting your time on little sluts, like her?" A shrill, envy-filled voice cut through my enjoyment from behind me. Castiel just rolled his eyes at the girl. "Am I not enough of a whore for you, or something? First Deborah, then that one girl, and now this little whore?" I turned around to look at this stranger, who seemed to think that she knew everything about my sexual life. She was the perfect embodiment of an insecure, shallow, jealous Barbie doll. Her blonde hair was curled and held tightly together by at least three cans of hair spray. She wore enough makeup that a clown would be jealous, and her bra had so much padding that her breasts looked fake.

But I was the whore? "Whore? Moi? Honey, I've seen actual prostitutes before, and I hate to be the one to say it, but they look just like you. Now would you please move along? The hideous amount of hair spray that you cursed your hair with is about to make me gag."

"Excuse me? Lin, Charlotte, did you hear that?" The girl asked to her equally fake friends. Clearly she was shocked. And clearly, not many people had the lady-balls to put her in her place. Castiel laughed so hard that he seemed to be holding onto my shoulder for support. The girl's neck turned red, from anger, but very little redness showed through her makeup.

She was almost face-to-face with me when she raised a fist. I didn't blink. I've seen kittens more threatening than her. "Unless you want me to put my cigarette out in your eyeball, I suggest that you take your wanna-be perfect Barbie doll self into the school. Or the circus, I mean you look ridiculous enough to be confused as a clown. I'm sure they would love you, there." I mused.

The girl scowled. "I'll get you, bitch." Then, the girl and her mental clones stalked away to the school. I couldn't help but laugh as they almost broke their ankles at least three times, getting their four-inch stiletto heels stuck in between slabs of concrete. They reminded me of a little group of newborn deer, in the way that they stumbled around.

"It's so cute that your stalker thinks that she's tough shit." I giggled. I took my final drag, and stubbed my cigarette out right beside Castiel's, feeling his heated gaze on my butt.

"That was priceless." He laughed, when I turned to him.

"I've learned how to deal with people like her." I said with a sigh. "At my old school there was literally seven of her. Obviously, she isn't used to people defending themselves. Who just lets someone get away with saying crap like that?"

"You'd be surprised." He smiled, contently. Without another breath, Castiel made his way to the school's courtyard. I followed, mostly because I didn't know where to go, partly because I wanted to check out his butt. It could have been the jeans, but that ass looked to be perfect. Then, he turned. Slowly, my eyes made their way up his body to his reddened face. "Are you looking at my ass?" he asked, humor laced his voice like THC laced my favorite bud. It was almost difficult to look him in the eye.

"I like guy butts!" I admitted, throwing my hands up in the air, then giggled. "My bad. Maybe you should stop having a nice butt. And besides! You look at my boobs, and butt every chance you get. Why can't I do the same? I mean, it's kinda like…returning the favor."

Castiel's eyes gazed at my breasts once more, and I responded by pushing them together-just a little bit-to tease him with more cleavage. Then, his entrancing grey eyes slowly ate up the view of my body, and finally landed on my face. I smirked, he blushed even more. "You should get your registration crap done…" he murmured, now fiddling with a strand of synthetically red hair.

"Oh, but I just started enjoying your company…" I faux-whined.

He chuckled in response. "I'm sure your cousin wouldn't agree with you _enjoying_ my company. I'm sure no one would, now that I think about it."

"Oh, fine. If you really care about what other's think, so be it." I sighed, offering a pout to him before walking away into the school. A quick glance back told me that he was watching my every step.

~Castiel's P.O.V.~

After I watched Eva slowly, _very slowly_ , walk into the school's doors, I walked through the gymnasium, straight into the Boy's Locker Room. Class would start in roughly fifteen minutes, but like usual the locker room was empty. Luckily, I was free of Amber AND Nathaniel for this class. ONLY this class though. As I began changing into my gym uniform, I silently told my "little" member to calm himself. Not once had I ever met a girl so alluring, someone who could give me a hard-on JUST by flashing some cleavage and walking away from me. Eva was definitely something else. I heard a cat call whistle from behind me. Furious, I turned to see who dared to intrude on my thoughts but found Alexy, the blue-haired wonder-boy. Staring right at my boner. "What the fuck?" I exclaimed, hurrying to put my gym shorts on. Really, the shorts did nothing to cover my hardened member, but they at least helped me to feel a little more…covered.

"I'm just going to pretend that I don't see THAT, and just ask why you're hanging out in the locker room, alone, only in your boxers, with a hard dick? I saw you with that new girl. She's really pretty." Alexy had always seemed straightforward, yet slightly cautious around me. But since he helped me out last year, the cautiousness dropped away. Honestly, the only reason that I didn't wring his neck in that exact point in time was because I owed him one, for helping me. "I know it hasn't been long since, well, the whole Candy-thing, but I think you and that girl would be perf!" His smile was carefree, but serious.

The mention of her name-Candy-made my dick instantly go limp, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't ever say her name around me again." I growled. Though it did help with my little predicament, it did not mean that I wanted to think about her.

"Sorry 'bout ya, bro. But I don't want to talk about _her_! I want to talk about Pretty Girl, the one with the red and black hair and pierced septum. I wanna take her shopping with me!"

"What's there to talk about? She's Eva Ainsworth. She's-"

"Absolute perfection!"

"She's Lysander's cousin."

~Eva's P.O.V.~

Students stared as I awkwardly searched for the room that I needed to find. _"Would have been nice for him to show me where I need to go. Oh well, he didn't seem to have much oxygen in his brain. He wouldn't have been much help."_ I thought to myself. Seemingly out of nowhere, I was shoved into the lockers, injured arm first, by a sharp elbow to the ribs. If only I had been paying more attention. I wasn't surprised to see the blonde bimbo and her Barbie crew stumbling away, giggling furiously. "What the hell is your problem, bitch?" I yelled after her, struggling to pull myself to my feet. Lysander seemed to appear beside me and helped me stand up, as pain swept through my arm.

Barbie crew stopped, turned, and offered me a sugary-sweet smile that made my skin crawl with disgust. "You're my problem, whore." Blondie laughed. "Did I make your wittle boo-boo worse? Poor wittle baby. Stay the fuck away from Castiel! Do you fucking understand me? Or are you too much of a STUPID WHORE to know English?"

"Castiel?" I scoffed. "You think I WANT him? I just met the dude! On top of that, I JUST got out of a relationship! I don't want ANYBODY! You're fucking pathetic, Blondie! Assaulting someone that you don't even _know_ , just because you THINK that she's stepping up on a guy who isn't even yours!" I was inches away from her, though her heels made her tower over me, it was obvious who was more fearful-seeing as she was trying to open space up between us. "Do you understand me, bitch? Or are you too much of an incompetent excuse of a human being to be able to comprehend the English language?" I mimicked her last two questions, same tone and everything, just edited it so that it actually sounded intelligent. "I could break you in half if you were a fully grown, three hundred pound man made of all muscle, my dad made damn sure of that. Test me, bitch!"

Lysander grabbed onto my wrist and began pulling me away from her. "Eva, this isn't worth it." He said as calm and in control of a growing cat fight as he could possibly be.

"Yeah!" Blondie laughed, eerily having an exact resemblance to a hyena. "Go on home and cry to your mommy and daddy! Stupid bitch. Oh wait! They probably left you because of how much of a WHORE you are!" she called out.

Rage seethed through me, searing my veins in heat, making my vision only see red. I felt myself be tossed over a shoulder. My vision managed to focus back to normal. Lysander had thrown me over his shoulder and was walking away from the growing scene. "Let me go!" I demanded, desperately trying to wiggle away from his grip, to no avail. "You're fucking lucky, bitch!" I yelled out to Blondie, who was smiling as if she had won anything. Far from it. "You wait! He can't be around all the time to save you! I'll rip your fucking heart out, bitch!" Then, the doors closed and Lysander was carrying me across the courtyard. I had no idea where he was taking me. We passed over gymnasium floors, and I decided that it would be wise to take my frustration out on Lysander's back. I punched as hard as I could, and even attempted to kick him in the face a few times. Finally, he placed me, feet first, on the floor of what seemed to be a locker room. I blew up in that very instant. "What the FUCK was that, Lysander?" I yelled, my voice echoed and it sounded completely foreign. I shoved my cousin against the blue lockers, which rattled in protest. "You heard what that cum guzzling dumpster slut said! You're an ass hole!" My heartbeat thumped loudly in my ears, it almost made me feel like I was deaf.

Lysander fixed his gaze on mine, and he simply stated: "Yes, I heard." Like usual, his voice was calm, I couldn't believe that he was calm. "And, obviously, you're much stronger than Amber. But beating her will solve nothing, and just cause you more problems. It's your first day, you do not want to make a bad rep for yourself with administration-"

"I don't give a fuck about getting a bad rep! That bitch needs a thorough ass kicking!"

"I'm very well aware, but-"

"EXCUSE ME!" Castiel's voice echoed off of the walls. "No girls allowed! I feel violated." He stood, only wearing gym shorts with the grey elastic band of his boxers poking out from the shorts. My eyes lingered on his chest and abs, my mouth almost watered. Castiel's body was nicely defined, not bulky, and absolutely perfect. My cheeks warmed, and all anger seemed to escape from my body. Then, I noticed the playful smile that seemed to light up his face.

"Pssh!" I snorted back, as playfully as I could. "Who just walks around the locker room with their shirt off? Weirdos, obviously."

"You don't seem bothered." He smirked.

Lysander quickly grew uneasy. "Oh, why would I?" I said with a wink, as I smoothed my bangs back over my yellow eye. Then, I turned my gaze back to my cousin and raised an eyebrow, arms crossed over my chest sternly. "Besides, it wasn't I who brought myself in here. Why would my dear cousin think it wise to drag me into a _boy's_ locker room where my poor innocent eyes might be defiled by the breasts of an attractive male?"

"I simply assumed that no one was in here. Usually no one is, at this time." His discomfort was so obvious that I almost began to feel bad for him. Then I remembered that he had practically made a fool out of me. "Maybe we should leave."

"Oh no! My eyes have already been defiled by the glorious breasts of man!" I sighed, dramatically throwing my forearm to my forehead, damsel in distress style. "I simply cannot look away!"

Castiel laughed.

"Do I have to pick you up again?" Lysander asked, sternly raising an eyebrow at me.

"Can you not?"

My cousin motioned a hand toward the door and began walking without another word. I followed, slowly behind hardly able to keep my own maniacal laughter to myself. Lysander turned to me when we were in the gym, with a sigh. "That was a mistake. I shouldn't have taken you in there. I apologize."

"As if I haven't seen worse." I muttered with an obvious eye roll. "I still need to get my registration taken care of."

I'll take you!" An absolutely adorable guy with blue hair, dressed in flashy, technicolored clothes said. He was walking from the locker room. Odd. I hadn't noticed him. His happy and obviously carefree smile seemed contagious to me, and very much reminded me of someone. "I'm Alexy! Lysander, Castiel wants to talk to you."

Lysander knitted his eyebrows together, confused. If he had something to say, he could have said it before him and I had left the room. But, without an argument, my wonderfully patient cousin shrugged and walked back to the locker room.

Alexy wrapped his arm around my shoulders and sqeezed. "I hope you don't mind. I just think that you're so gorgeous!"

"And you had to be friends with me?" I giggled, finishing what one of my best friends back home always said to me, and any other attractive girl. I smiled as I remembered him. He was like a brother that I never had. Alexy was practically a spitting image of my friend, except Alexy seemed a lot more feminine.

"Oh! Exactly! I thought I was the only person that said that!" Alexy gushed.

"My best guy friend, Ravyn says it all the time!"

~Castiel's P.O.V.~

"Do you like her?" Alexy asked me, after I briefly explained how I met Eva. As if it was really important. I didn't sign up for fifty questions from Alexy.

I shook my head, and laughed. "No. I find her attractive. Very attractive actually. But don't go that far. I'm done with feelings, I'm done with dating, I'm not getting screwed over again."

"But you wouldn't mind, you know, fucking her?"

Woah. Alexy definitely caught me off guard with that one. My cheeks felt warm and I gave an exasperated sigh. "I mean, hypothetically speaking…"

"Hypothetically speaking?" Alexy repeated, then laughed. "How does one 'hypothetically' want to have sex with someone?"

"Well…if you could take a few…aspects away from her. Like the fact that she's Lysander's cousin…he'd be pissed. If you just watch at any point that I go around them, he doesn't even like me talking to her." I chuckled, there was no way that I'd be willing to ruin my friendship with Lysander. Now that I gave it a thought, it didn't surprise me that Lysander was so protective. Eva was beautiful, and basically one of the few family members that he had left.

"If he thinks that you'd hurt her, he doesn't know you as well as you think he does!" Alexy huffed. "I mean, Deborah made that fight between you and Nathaniel, and then dumped you; then Candy just cheats on you, and up and leaves to move to Australia with that surfer-boy! Not once have you EVER hurt a girl."

"Uh…yeah." I couldn't deny that he was wrong. I just wasn't very used to talking to Alexy. Sometimes, like this time, he was like a girl, meaning he talked A LOT and got emotional about A LOT. I didn't mind too much, his company was nice, especially after he informed me of Candy cheating on me. "Thanks again."

"No problem! I can't stand people like that. Trifling hoes. It's like the heart of another person doesn't matter. How can someone be so…self-obsessed, to only care about their feelings? Cheaters make me so mad! Good riddance, I say, though. Because you KNOW that he is going to do the same to her. Why give up on love and relationships, though? You don't think that I haven't had my heart stomped on? When you find someone that you feel for you go balls to the wall about it! You really have nothing to lose!"

I glared at Alexy. I did not want a lovey pep talk.

An outburst of chatter, and the yelling of a feminine voice cut me off before I could say a word-thankfully. Alexy and I went to see who it was. And of course it was Eva, arguing with Lysander. Amber had apparently pissed her off, and she was displeased at Lysander for not letting her fight Amber. Eva looked as she did before-left arm curled in a sling, leather jacket…she was absolutely captivating. Her bangs were messy, and showed her gold colored eye which matched her cousin's perfectly. Her cheeks were reddened by fury, and I could tell that she REALLY wanted to cause bodily harm to her cousin. "EXCUSE ME!" I announced, my voice echoed off of the concrete walls, and sounded angrier than I had intended. A smile crept onto my face when they looked over. "No girls allowed! I feel violated."

Eva looked me up and down. Her two-colored eyes lingered on my chest and abs, and Lysander rolled his eyes, sighing in exasperation. Beside me, Alexy giggled. "Pssh! Who just walks around the locker room without their shirt on? Weirdos, obviously." She finally shot back, after tearing her wandering eyes away from my body.

"You don't seem bothered." I chuckled, my devilish smirk came easily.

It quickly became painfully obvious that Lysander was uncomfortable. Eva smoothed her bangs over her gold eye and returned my devilish smirk. "Oh, why would I?" Eva seemed to coo. Then, she turned her dark blue gaze back to Lysander, arms crossed over her breasts-which teased my eyes enough, as they barely poked out of her red tank top-and raised an eyebrow. She mimicked Lysander's signature 'confused' or 'intrigued' look to perfection. The more the cousins stood together, the more I noticed their similarities. They had the same eyebrows, the same nose, the same lips…I was thankful for their few subtle differences: her blue eye, the roundness of her eyes, the feminine facial shape of her face. Boobs. "Oh no! My eyes have already been defiled by the glorious breasts of man! I simply cannot look away!" Her dramatic flailing broke me away from my thoughts. I couldn't help but chuckle. No longer did she seem to be pissed off. Then again, women hid it well.

Lysander raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to pick you up again?"

"Can you not?" she growled.

The pair made their way for the gymnasium, after that. "That was so cute!" Alexy swooned, and even dared to hug me. "Lysander really does get uncomfortable when you and Eva _flirt_!"

I frowned at Alexy's statement. "We weren't flirting."

"Yes, you were!" Before I could even throw a punch to his arm, Alexy was already gone.

I went back to my locker to put my gym shirt on. When my head was free from the fabric tunnel, Lysander stood in front of me. "You wanted to talk to me?" he asked, voice all monotone, as if he hadn't just been disturbed to the point of vacating the locker room.

"No." I said, as I began stretching the morning stiffness out of my leg and back muscles.

"Alexy said-"

"Alexy has a friend-crush on Eva." I chuckled.

~Eva's P.O.V.~

The more that Alexy talked, the more he reminded me of Ravyn, one of my best friends who lived in the town that I used to live at-the place that I still wanted to call home. Ravyn had a twin sister and a little sister-just a year younger than me-Rhealyn and Aricka. Both of whom were like sisters to me. A week before my parents and I left, Rhealyn gave birth to my Goddaughter, Skyelah. My chest ached for my non-biologial family. "I need a phone…" I sighed, miserably.

"You don't have one?" Alexy asked.

"Well…before we left, my parents had my phone shut off, and had me delete my social media accounts. They told me that we were just visiting but…I think that they wanted to relocate."

"Cas told me about your parents. But why would they want to relocate?" he asked, almost carefully. We were slowly making our way through the courtyard.

"Cas should mind his own business. They aren't his parents to talk about. He doesn't know me, and he's never known them." I said sternly, then let out a long breath, willing myself to not get mad. Alexy didn't mean to make me mad, and for all I knew, Castiel could have told him to save me breath. "I kind of had-well still have, I guess-a stalker. He was my boyfriend-off and on-since I was thirteen. He was…pretty abusive. When my parents-and friends-finally convinced me to leave him and never go back, he went bat shit crazy. Threatened to kill himself, me, my parents, my friends, my Goddaughter, everyone."

"Oh." Alexy seemed to be taken aback by my little story for a very short moment. I took his distractedness as a free moment to straighten my septum ring. "I'm glad that you're far away from him now."

"So am I…"

"Do you like Cas?" Alexy asked, completely out of the blue.

I was so caught off guard that I had literally stopped, dead in my tracks. "Come again?"

"Do you have a crush on Castiel?" He said, very slowly to make sure that I caught each word.

My cheeks warmed and I knew that my face was probably beet red. Straightforward, just like Ravyn. "I…I'm attracted to him, yes. A crush, though? I think not. After Crazy-Nick, I don't want to be with anyone. It isn't worth putting myself up to the possibility of being abused again."

"For the record, Castiel is a great guy, just a little…tough around the edges, if you catch my drift. He doesn't get along with people very much anymore, and really tries to keep his distance from people. But, would you want to, you know, get naked with him?"

I literally jumped back from surprise at the bold question. The thought of having my legs wrapped around his hips, skin rubbing skin enveloped my mind, and for what seemed like an eternity I was completely speechless. "Oh…uh, I don't….I-I…uh." I covered my face with my hands, then started laughing. "If I wasn't a virgin, I wouldn't mind, I guess." I finally managed to spit out.

Alexy threw his head back and began laughing, almost maniacally, just like Ravyn did when he thought that something was really funny. "So, you wouldn't let him pop your cherry?"

"WHAT? NO! I just met him! And besides, Lysander would have a cow and a half."

"I could believe it." He laughed, happily running a hand through his pastel blue hair, which was so very much like Aricka's. "I wouldn't want to get in between a friendship, either."

"Why would you ask me something like that, anyway? Did…Castiel tell you to do it?"

"Haha! No. I asked on my own accord. Just so you know, the feelings are mutual."

"Right. There are no feelings."

"Not true! Both of you REFUSE to admit that you've been stung by the crush bug, but you both would enjoy a nice fuck with one another-taking away certain genetic circumstances, of course. Lust is a feeling."

When Alexy and I walked into the school we instantly dropped that conversation. He asked about my friends, and my life before coming out here. I didn't think my life was very interesting, but reminiscing was much better than walking in silence. Alexy was definitely easy to talk to. When we finally found the principal, I had to suppress a gag. She reminded me so much like Professor Umbridge, from Harry Potter. I could almost see her having an office full of cat plates and a poor "bad" student writing "I must not…" and whatever they got into trouble over, until it carved itself into the person's hand. She was even extra sweet, which did nothing for her uncanny resemblance. "Ah, okay, everything looks in order!" she chimed. A little dog, that looked like a Shiba Inu sniffed at my foot. "Just remember, fighting is NOT allowed at, or around school. If there is any more incidents, I will not hesitate to suspend you!" the dog growled, then insisted on trying to bite my ankle.

Yup. Just like Umbridge. "I hope you told that to little miss Barbie Doll. She started it." I responded with a frown, trying to gently kick the dog away from my poor ankle, which was already getting sore.

The principal's cheeks reddened in anger. "I did not see that! I only saw you being carried away spewing filthy language and threats! Miss Amber did NOTHING wrong, from my standpoint."

"Just so you know, Ma'am, I have a rather large inheritance coming my way. I can, and will sue this school if my arm is more damaged than what it was. That girl assaulted me for no reason. I shouldn't be read the riot act." I stormed out of the room, with Alexy quickly in tow.

"Do you want to go shopping with me, after school?" he asked.

"Sure!" I chimed, a broad smile made its' way onto my face. "That sounds like a lot of fun, actually."


	3. Chapter 3: Bittersweet Memories

**(Author's Note: Very sorry for the delay on this chapter! I started two new jobs, and this chapter proved to be quite difficult for me to write. Quick disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from My Candy Love. The only characters that I own are: Eva Ainsworth, Ravyn Anderson, Rhealyn Anderson, Aricka Anderson, and anyone else associated with that group. I also do not own any songs mentioned, or quoted in this chapter. Credits to these bands for making such awesome music (another note: I did credit the bands in text!): Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas, What Have You Done by Within Temptation, and B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down. A special credit to Bullet for My Valentine for making the song "Bittersweet Memories", which is the title for this chapter! Let me know what you guys think! Also, I did not proof read this chapter, so do not be surprised if there are spelling, grammatical or content errors. I apologize in advance, if anyone does come across any of these errors. It took so long to write, that I wanted to get it posted as soon as possible, and proof reading/editing would have taken at least another 2-3 days. Enjoy!)**

 **Carry On…#3: Bittersweet Memories**

Alexy and I waited in the courtyard to tell Lysander about our "shopping date" when school finally ended. It was definitely a turbulent day, to say the least. I almost got into a fight with some girl, almost hurt Lysander, threatened to sue the school, saw Castiel half-naked, found out that Castiel would be more than happy to have sex with me, and had all but one class with Barbie Girl and each class with Castiel, Lysander, Rosalya and Alexy. Introducing myself in each class was a pain. The girl who pissed me off snickered each time I was made to stand in front of the class, and at one point had yelled "Go back to Whore Land where you belong", in which Castiel told her to choke on a dildo. Lysander laughed. Castiel got sent to the office for the rest of that class period. It was a pretty good time.

I really didn't understand why Lysander was taking so long. Thirty minutes after the last bell, he finally strode out of the school, his black and green Victorian-styled dress coat swayed behind him. Castiel followed behind wearing a slightly comical scowl. Alexy nudged me in the ribs with his elbow and giggled: "There's your bae!"

My eyebrow raised as I fixed an angry glare at him. The term "bae" wasn't one that I was fond of, ever since it became a thing.

Before I could scold Alexy for making that comment, Lysander approached us. He looked troubled. "Hello."

"I just wanted to tell you that Alexy and I were going to go clothes shopping. So you didn't have to worry. I would have said something earlier, but I wasn't expect you to stay at school for thirty minutes though." I said with a soft giggle.

"That's alright. I hope you don't mind if Castiel and I join. We need to talk to Leigh."

"About what?"

"Something."

"Something secret?"

"Yes." A small smile crept onto his face.

"Alexy, you're still here?" A voice asked from behind me. Everyone waved as I turned around to see who the voice belonged to. Immediately, I recognized him from my classes. Armin, I think was his name. His hair laid exactly like Alexy's, but was parted on the other side, and it was its' natural black color. The only thing about the two that wasn't identical was the color of their eyes: Alexy's were purple and Armin's were a very captivating sky blue color. He dressed much classier than Alexy, but something told me that his choice of clothing wasn't much of his decision.

"Yeah." Alexy said, smiling back at his twin. "We're going to the Clothes Shop. Wanna come with?"

"Not really." Armin replied, a wide grin spread across his narrow face, revealing pearly white teeth. "I have a date with my Sims."

Yet another another reminder of my friends. My heart ached to see, or at least hear them. Aricka loved The Sims, so much that she'd put over seven hundred hours into it. She would spend at least an hour on each Sim, just to make them as perfect as possible. I didn't know how she had the attention span for it. The one time that I played it, I made my characters and then got bored the moment night came and they had to go to bed.

Leigh's shop was in a wonderful spot, only a few blocks away from the school, and (according to Lysander) a very short walk back to the apartment. It was so amazing. I couldn't believe that Leigh had made all of the clothes by hand. They were flawless, and satisfied just about every different stereotype of fashion. Lysander and Castiel made a beeline for the register where Leigh stood looking as stoic and professional as possible. Alexy grabbed onto my wrist and drug me around the store, picking random articles of clothing off of the racks for both me and him to try on. By the time that we got to the changing room, Alexy had gone through each clothing rack, and both of our arms were filled to the point of not being able to see over them. Rosalya-who was M.I.A. during last hour, I can only assume that she skipped because she didn't look like she'd gotten sick-bounced up beside me, once she realized what we were doing. In the changing room, Alexy handed me a maid costume with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. I scowled. "I'm sorry, but you don't have the figure for that."

He rolled his violet colored eyes, then thrust it in front of my body. "Try it! Just for fun! We'll show the boys!"

"Two are my cousins and I'm sure that they don't want to see that."

"Then we'll call Castiel over here!"

"I am not going to put a maid dress on and then show Castiel. That's a little too erotic-"

"Besides, Cas would have a brain aneurism just by seeing something like that." Rosalya giggled. "Eva's body is just too…much for him."

Alexy shoved another, less erotic dress up to my body. It looked like it had originally been a black, off the shoulder extra-large T-shirt at one point, cut up along the sides, tied back together. The second sleeve was cut off and replaced with soft, unobvious elastic. It had embellishments sewn on it: red lace decorated the bottom hem of the shirt, and the bottom of the sleeve, red ribbon made up a cute corset design that would run up my spine, and a big wink emoticon made of red sequins was placed on the chest. I didn't even need to try it on to know that I wanted it. Within a second, Rosalya stripped me down. I took the dress from Alexy, who kept his eyes averted. "Do you always strip people that you just meet?" I almost yelled as I slipped the little dress over my head.

Rosalya turned me around and around after I had the dress settled nicely over my body. Then, she giggled: "Of course I do! Besides, we all have the same anatomy."

"Uh…correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Alexy has a vagina."

"A-plus to Miss Eva for knowing Biology!" Alexy howled with laughter. "On a more serious note, I didn't look. Even if I had, though, it wouldn't do anything. I have your preferences."

"No offense, but I already kind of guessed that. You're pretty much a replica of Ravyn! Mentally, not physically. Thank you for not looking, though."

"Go show Castiel!" Alexy gushed. "You look perf!"

A knock sounded, twice, on the door of the rather large dressing room. Alexy and I jumped from surprise. I was expecting Castiel's voice, from how loudly Alexy had been saying his name. When Leigh spoke, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you really need three of you in there?" he asked.

Rosalya threw the door open and jumped into her boyfriend's arms with an exclaimed: "Yes!"

Castiel and Lysander stood behind Leigh. Their arms were crossed, and wore an identical look that said _this is annoying_ on their faces. Alexy grabbed the maid dress again and held it up. "Cas, tell Eva to put this on!"

"NO!" Lysander, Leigh and I yelled in perfect synchronization. From the corner of my eye, I saw Castiel turn his back to us shaking his head.

"You're just a bunch of buzz kills." Alexy pouted. He turned back to the pile of clothes and shut the door to the dressing room. The lock clicked, leaving Rosalya alone with the boys.

For the next hour, Alexy and I tried on different clothes. Most of them just didn't fit my style, but still looked cute-according to Alexy. The entire time, I couldn't get my mind off of the off-the-shoulder dress. It sucked that I didn't have money to buy it. "Guys!" Rosalya's voice excitedly yelled from the other side of the door, banging on it almost frantically. Before I could put a shirt back on, Alexy flung the door open. Just as Castiel walked by. Instantly, he palmed his face and quickened the speed of his walk to the front counter. Alexy and Rosa exploded in amused laughter. Then, I noticed the real reason why Rosa had banged on the door. She held up a beautiful, prom-styled dress that was strapless with a big, poufy skirt. Definitely NOT the type of dress that I fawned over. The top was a beautiful dark, blood red color with pretty, Victorian-styled designs made from aurora borealis crystals (my favorite semi-precious gem stone). The skirt was the same red color that gradually faded into black, with the crystals strategically placed throughout the fabric. "Try it!" Rosa was practically shaking from how excited this dress made her.

Alexy couldn't hold back his giggles from my expression. Not only did I have my arms crossed, to cover my mostly exposed double D sized breasts, but my eyebrow was raised and I looked disgusted by the dress, but still in love with it. I loved the color scheme, crystals, and the Victorian designs. But the skirt. And the lack of straps. "Sorry to let you down, but strapless and I don't get along. Like, at all."

"Take the bra off!" She shot back, as if expecting me to say that.

My cheeks reddened. As if it were THAT simple. "The boobs are the problem, not the bra." I giggled, nervously.

"It'd look perfect on you!" Alexy gushed.

I began scrambling through all of the clothes that we tried on, looking for my shirt. The last thing I wanted was for a customer to walk in and see me with just a bra and my black skinny jeans on. "You two obviously don't know the struggle."

"Boobies are only a struggle if you don't have Duct Tape." Rosalya handed the dress to Alexy, and with an awfully serious look, pulled a large roll of silver Duct Tape out of the bag that hung off of her shoulder and pulled it apart from the roll with the indescribable, signature sound that Duct Tape always makes.

"Are you really gonna-" Alexy began asking, only cutting himself off with a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Rosalya's golden eyes stared all the way to my soul. Yes. Rosalya was dead serious about Duct taping my boobs.

I finally located my red tank top and black leather jacket and threw them on with no resistance from the fabric of either. It was as if my clothes knew that I was in grave danger. Shaking my head, I ducked under her outstretched arms. "Nope. Not happening!" I called out as I ran to the counter. It only took a few seconds for my panic-stricken legs to take me behind the counter, hiding behind Leigh. Castiel glared, as if I had interrupted an important conversation.

"Eva! Come back! It won't hurt, I promise!" Rosa called as she and Alexy followed, dress in hand.

"That's exactly what my ballet teacher said!" I retorted, digging my sharp fingernails into Leigh's back, forcing him to become my human shield. "IT WAS HORRIBLE!"

"If you cover your nipples with cotton, it won't hurt at all!" She argued, letting the tape hang down from the roll. Rosa reached back into her bag and pulled out two balls of cotton.

Castiel, Leigh, Lysander and I all exchanged looks of pure mortification. Alexy raised an eyebrow and scratched at his chin. "You can't Duct Tape my boobs!" I growled.

"Yes I can! It'll look like you're flatter than Lys-baby!"

"No!"

"You'll look beautiful in the dress though! I can fix your boob problem!"  
"I wouldn't call it a problem." Castiel chimed in with a devilish smirk. Leigh reached over the counter and flicked Castiel on the forehead. The _thump_ that it made rang so loudly through the store that I barely noticed Lysander smack him on the back of the head.

"Duct Tape Castiel's boobs and put him in the dress! Surely he'd look much better!" I shot back, forcing myself to not laugh about my cousins' reaction to his remark.

Castiel frowned. "How about, no?"

"Lysaaaaaaaaaaander!" A shrill, young sounding voice chimed as she ran into the store. She looked like she had barely even touched puberty, aside from what little "boobage" that her obviously stuffed bra gave her. Her light blonde hair was dyed pink at the tips, I could tell that it was Kool-Aid, and not actual dye. Aricka would probably call her a pussy for doing such a half-assed job on her hair. She wore too much makeup for her age, and definitely fit the profile for the "Gothic-Lolita" stereotype. If I were her mother, I'd have beaten her ass black and blue. Before Lysander even had the chance to look in the girl's direction, she ran up to him and jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist as she "hugged" him.

"That's just gross." I scoffed. "Lys, I never took you for the pedophile-type."

"What?" he stuttered, cheeks reddening with-what it seemed like-embarrassment.

"Who the fuck are you to judge, bitch?" the girl shot back as she detached herself from my cousin's body. She glared at me from over the counter, her lilac-grey eyes seemed to shoot daggers at me. Daggers which just bounced off of my, _I don't give a fuck_ barrier.

"Sorry, the big kids are talking, little one. Go find your mommy and daddy, I'm sure they've noticed that their cradle has been robbed." I said with an all too obvious eye roll, then raised an eyebrow at Lysander. "You do realize that I'm looking out for you, right? I've seen too many guys get put on the Sexual Offenders' list, just because of that crap."

"I'm not a little kid!" The girl yelled. "I'm twelve!"

I began laughing so hard that I nearly fell to my knees. "I remember saying that!"

Lysander was so mortified. His cheeks were red, and when she forced another hug onto him, he pushed her away. "Nina, you should go." He stated, as if breaking a kids' heart was something that he did on a normal basis. "I do not mind you hanging around, but I have told you-time and time again: do not do that. And this is why. I'll get in trouble, not you. I'm too old for you."

"This is no joke, Nina. If he gets in trouble and is put on the sex offender's list, Lys-baby won't be able to play on stage ever again, because sex offenders aren't allowed near anyone under seventeen. You don't want to do that to him, do you?" Rosalya was speaking so softly, as if she was trying to spare the girl's feelings as much as possible. I just rolled my eyes. I knew that there was no point in being gentle with her. There were too many girls, EXACTLY like her at my school. And they never backed off, until Rhealyn and I beat one girls' ass. After that, they all backed off. Girls like her were disgusting, and I couldn't understand why guys were even okay with letting them _hang around_.

Tears began welling up in the little girl's eyes, and she sniffled for effect. I saw right though her fake tears. As Lysander, Alexy and Rosalya began comforting her, I just rolled my eyes. How anyone could fall for that, shocked me. There was no way in hell that I would stand around, watching while Crazy-Nina played their heartstrings like a harpist. So I left the store, and began walking in whatever direction my feet took me. Which happened to be left. A hand grabbed onto my shoulder, and I raised a fist as I turned to the hands' source. My eyes widened with surprise when I my eyes connected with Castiel's stormy, grey eyes and discontented frown. Slowly, I lowered my fist. "What was with that?" he asked.

"What, am I supposed to stand and watch as that little baby sheds a few crocodile tears, and gets her way? I mean, if Lysander wants to be a pedophile, that's fine, but it's fucking disgusting." My voice was much louder than what I had intended it to be, but it was difficult to control the volume of my voice when I was angry. It's safe to assume that a lot of people have similar issues.

"Lysander isn't a pedophile, he just doesn't want to hurt her feelings." He said, a frown rested on his face. "He's tried telling her, time and time again. She just doesn't get the obvious hint. Nina is like my exes and Amber all mixed in one."

I began walking, arms crossed. Castiel didn't fall a single step behind. Honestly, the company was nice-seeing as I didn't know my way around-but I didn't want to talk. I just wanted to walk my anger away. Beside me, Castiel lit two cigarettes and handed one to me, as if he just knew that I really wanted one. "Where are you planning to go, anyway?" He asked after we had each taken a few drags.

"I don't know, I don't care. I just want to go home." I said after a long sigh.

"Well, Lysander's apartment is the other way, you know."

I scowled at him, and he smirked back after blowing a puff of smoke in my face. I blew smoke right back into his face. "No. Cali. That's my home. This is a cute town and all, but it isn't where I belong."

"You can't, though. How do you plan on getting there?"

"I have feet, don't I?"

"They won't get you all too far. You'll have to sleep eventually, and eat. And you don't exactly have money, do you?"

I quickened my pace, feeling my temper continuing to bubble up. "Then what do you suppose I do, huh? All of my stuff is over there, all of my friends are over there."

"You have friends here, too. And family."

"Family that I haven't seen since I was a little girl."

"Family who still cares about your safety and well-being, even though they haven't seen you since you were little. A lot of people wish that they had that."

"Why are you even so concerned about what I do?" I asked, coming to a complete halt. Castiel walked a few steps ahead of me before noticing that I had stopped. With a raised eyebrow, I took a long drag from the cigarette and blew it out before continuing. "I mean, we didn't get off on the right foot, obviously, and you really just regard me with a smart ass tone, like I do nothing but waste your time. I know that you only see me as a piece of ass, but-"

"I don't ONLY see you as a piece of ass, who told you that?"

"Alexy did! And frankly, it isn't that hard to tell."

Castiel rolled his stormy grey eyes, turned away from me, turned back like he wanted to say something, turned away again because he changed his mind then turned back to me and got his face so close to mine that I smelled the nicotine on his breath. "I don't just see you as a piece of ass." He said again, moving my bangs away from my gold eye with his free hand. "Yes, I told Alexy that I would like to have sex with you. He told me that you said the same, damn, thing. If you can't tell, that boy has issues keeping things to himself. That's why I told him that."

I smacked his hand away, much harder than intended, and smoothed my bangs back over it. My face heated up, I couldn't believe that Alexy had actually told him what I said. Then again, he did tell me. "If you don't see me as just a piece of ass, what do you see me as? Huh? Lysander's annoying little cousin?"

"No. I'm not going to go there, right now."

"What do you mean by that?"

He took a step back, opening up space between the two of us. "Don't worry about it." He smirked. "Come with me."

"No."

"Yes."

"On one condition."

"What might that be?"

"I get to play your guitar."

 **~Castiel's P.O.V.~**

"You'll break it!" I almost yelled, taking a step away from her like she was a king cobra ready to strike. The idea of someone else playing my guitar was absolutely terrifying. What if she dropped it? Or WORSE: broke a string.

"I will not!" Eva retorted, her shriek seemed to echo off of the walls of the Clothes Shop.

"No one but me plays it." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Five minutes. Or I start heading to Cali." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Stalemate. With a groan, I caved. Eva seemed like the stubborn type, and I really didn't feel like having a stare down for a few hours. Not to mention, Lysander and Leigh would both probably kill me if I let their cousin walk to California. "Fine. Follow me."

Eva stood behind me, looking up at my parents' house. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small, either. It was two floors, built out of dark red bricks with a black fence lining the sidewalk and a huge privacy fence lined the backyard. "You don't mind big dogs, do you?" I asked before opening the door. Over time, I've learned that some people needed to be warned about Demon. I heard his tail thumping against the wall beside the door. He already knew that I was home.

"I love big dogs! Who doesn't?" She responded with a cheerful, almost carefree smile. It amazed me to see how quickly her moods changed. With a smirk, I opened the door and Demon pushed past us and did his "business" right on the sidewalk. Then, he began sniffing at Eva's feet, and gradually moved up her legs before she pushed his nose away from her butt. Demon barked and pounced on her. It surprised me to see that he didn't knock her down. Eva patted my dog's head as he happily licked her face, I took the moment to clean up his mess.

"Go lay down." I barked the order, because that was the only tone that he would listen to me in. He dropped off of Eva's shoulders, back onto the ground and sat at my feet, occasionally whipping my leg with his muscular tail. I glared down at him, silently telling him to obey the command.

"He's such a sweetie." Eva seemed to gush. Demon sulked over to his pillow in the living room.

"He's usually more protective than that." I mumbled. Demon never acted like that, especially to a complete stranger. I led Eva into the living room-greeted by Demon's thumping tail-and I sat down on the brown, leather recliner that sat just a couple of feet to the left of the matching loveseat.

"Guitar." Eva mused, as she gently ran a hand through my hair.

"Pushy." I muttered, swatting her hand away from my hair. With a groan, I led her up the stairs and into my bedroom-which was pretty unkempt. "It's right here. If you break even a string on my guitar-"

"You'll break my fingers."

"Well…I wouldn't go that far, but I'd be pretty pissed."

"Well, you do realize that I play guitar, too. I wouldn't just break someone else's guitar." Without any hesitation, Eva picked up my guitar by the neck, sat on my bed and began an inspection of the strings. "You should think about getting new strings, soon. Your high E is weak." She strummed all of the strings once, testing its' tuning. Of course, it was perfect. Every morning I spent fifteen minutes making sure that it's in tune. Eva looked perfectly natural as she held my red and white electric guitar close to her chest-but not so close that it would interfere with her playing. She gathered her half black and half red hair in her hands and tossed it over her left shoulder. Eva even moved her bangs away from her eyes, which seemed to be a rare occurrence for her. "Can I plug it into the amp?" she asked as her fingers began playing warm-up scales.

"Be my guest." I chuckled. It was still difficult for me to believe that she played. Not many girls did, Iris was the only girl that I ever met who knew how to play somewhat decently. Anyone could hold a guitar and see if it's in tune. Anyone can even learn to play scales. "If you suck, I'm taking my guitar back."

A small, cocky smirk spread onto Eva's face. "I wouldn't expect any less." She plugged the amplifier cord into the respectable plug-ins then turned the amp on. When she strummed the strings, sound exploded from it, making her jump away from it. Apparently, I had forgotten to turn the volume down, the last time I had played it. Eva's backpack fell onto the floor. The contents spilled onto my floor.

I breathed a sigh of relief, that backpack could have easily been my guitar. "Careful!" I scolded Eva, as I turned the volume dial down from ten to four. "Your bag could have been my guitar!"

"What?" She yelled back, rubbing her right ear with a finger. "Sorry, I can't hear anymore!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at her dramatic reaction. Then, I noticed the notebook that had fallen out of Eva's backpack. It looked exactly like Lysander's. "Did Lysander let you borrow that?" I asked, pointing a finger at the emerald green cover.

Her blue and gold gaze turned to the notebook, and she smirked. "Nope."

I frowned. "Where did you find it?"

"It fell out of his coat pocket, on our way to school and I picked it up. He didn't even notice me fall behind as I grabbed it, so I decided to wait for him to ask for it back. And he hasn't. So I still have it." She strummed the strings of my guitar, then gently turned the amp's volume up to seven.

"That's because he didn't notice until school got out. He had me running around everywhere with him, looking for that damned thing."

"Huh." She mused. "You could have just asked if I knew anything about it."

"Because it was so obvious that you had it." I grumbled. Eva began playing a familiar song, her eyes were closed. She looked so peaceful. I struggled, trying to figure out what song she was playing. My phone vibrated in my pocket, breaking me away from the music. Lysander had texted asking what I did with his cousin. With a roll of my eyes, I picked the notebook up, held it out in front of me and snapped a picture that showed the notebook, and Eva playing my guitar. The text that I sent afterward read: _both are safe and well._ My attention immediately turned back to Eva, who was still immersed in the music. Her fingers jumped from chord to chord with sheer perfection. "What song?" I asked, finally becoming annoyed because I couldn't think of the song's title.

Eva dropped the guitar pick and opened her eyes, wide-silently asking: _are you fucking kidding me?_ I just offered her a small shrug. "Think Kansas." She said, the shock slowly melting off of her face, and played the main melody. I was still at a loss, and offered another small shrug. "Just about any season finale for Supernatural." I shook my head. She strummed the strings in her frustration and threw her hands in the air. "Are you fucking kidding me, right now, Castiel?" She asked, her red eyebrows knitted themselves together, then she rolled her captivating eyes at me and began singing the lyrics: "Carry on my wayward son; There'll be peace when you are done; Lay your weary head to rest; Don't you cry no more…" She played the following solo with perfection, and continued playing the guitar as the piano's part. At this exact point, it would take an idiot to not recognize the song. Carry on my Wayward Son by Kansas was one of my mom's favorites. Eva's voice seemed to wrap me up in it. I haven't heard a female's voice so strong, pretty and pure all at the same time. And how she played…perfectly. I almost felt envious. "Once I rose above the noise and confusion; Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion; I was soaring ever higher; But I flew too high; Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man; Though my mind could think I still was a mad man; I hear the voices when I'm dreaming; I can hear them say; Carry on my wayward son; There'll be peace when you are done; Lay your weary head to rest; Don't you cry no more;" Then she stopped. I opened my eyes to find her staring at me. She giggled as she covered her gold eye back up with her bangs. "Like what you hear, sir?"

"Yeah." I mumbled, still in my musical daze. Eva giggled, and my cheeks warmed up. "It seems that singing runs in your family."

"What do you mean?"

"Lysander sings in my band."

"Oh! Well that's great!" Her smile quickly faded to a soft frown. "I…had a band, back home. Night Reign. We were actually becoming pretty popular."

"Why did your group break up?"

Eva raised an eyebrow. "My parent's died." She stated with a strum of the guitar's strings. "Before we left, my parents deactivated my phone, and social media accounts, so I haven't been able to contact them since I left. For all they know, we took a vacation and just haven't come back. We're supposed to have our first big show this week. But…I'm not there. And it would take at least a month for even a talented guitarist to learn the solos that I wrote."

She began playing a solo that I've never heard before. I assumed that it was her original. It required some seriously quick finger-picking. I was beginning to feel jealous-I haven't even come close to mastering finger-picking. "How long have you played for?"

As she thought, she tapped her lower lip with a finger and hummed. "Since I was about four, I'd say. My dad taught me Carry on my Wayward Son, and since then, I was hooked. Like a tweeker on crystal meth. Someone is full of questions, now."

"Well, this is interesting." I said with a shrug. "Now that I think about it…you said that your band's name was Night Reign?" Eva nodded and gave my high E string a strum before going back to her ridiculously fast finger-picking. "I think I've heard of your band before."

"For real?" she exclaimed, excitement began dancing through her dark blue eye, and her fingers didn't miss a single note. "I didn't think our music got out of Cali. Let alone this far! How did you hear about us?"

I frowned. "My ex showed me your band. She always talked about how she 'personally knew the most bad ass cover bands of this century'. Honestly, I didn't believe that she knew you guys until she pointed each of you out in four different yearbooks. You looked goofy in seventh grade, by the way. I can't believe I didn't recognize you when we first met. Then again I listen to music, not look at people. Always wanted to hear an original, though."

"Not my fault I looked goofy, back then. My dentist made me have braces, because my teeth were _apparently_ too crooked to live. And that was my…awkward time. If you catch my drift." Eva's cheeks reddened and she turned her face down to focus on her playing. "Did this ex have a name?"

"I don't say her name." I replied, drily. "I mean, she did say that she was one of your best friends so-"

Eva turned her face back up to mine, almost angrily. "None of my best friends moved away." She growled.

"Well…you can't just guess her name?" I shot back.

"Do you know how many crazy bitches go to my old school? A lot! Do you know how many moved? A lot more! Just tell me her name!"

"No!"  
"I will give you a titty twister so hard that your nipples will bleed into next Friday!"

"I'll do it right back! It's been five minutes, by the way. I want my guitar back." I scowled and crossed my arms. Why Eva was becoming so infuriated about talking about my ex confused me. Then again, girls were confusing in every single way, shape and form.

Eva strummed the strings seven times, blue eye glaring right into my soul. Then, she slid her fingers up and down the frets, while plucking one string at a time. The sound that came out of the amp sounded like she had made my guitar sing _"fuck you, Castiel"_. Her lips slowly spread into a cocky smile. "Just tell me who she is. I can make a guitar say just about anything. So, unless you want to be insulted by your baby, do what I fucking tell you!"

Her smile was so innocent, with perfectly straightened white teeth. It seemed wrong of her to threaten me with that smile. I crossed my arms over my chest, and for a few moments we glared at each other. "Candy." Just saying her name made me want to throw up.

The smile dropped to a frown in less than a second, her nostrils flared as she drew in multiple deep breaths. Eva gently placed my guitar on the bed and began angrily pacing. Her hands were shaking as she wrung them together, and rage seeped from each pore on her body. "You're saying that that…BITCH was claiming to be one of MY best friends?" she was yelling, not at me, but yelling in general. I did it a lot, myself, when I got worked up. One lone tear dropped from her blue eye, which was quickly wiped away.

In her anger, Eva took her leather jacket off and whipped it across the room. "Hey, no need for the violent stripping. We do sexy stripping in my room."

"You'd like to see that." Eva scowled, gathering her long, waist length hair up in both hands. "I can't wear that thing right now. It's too hot in here."

"You're just hot."

Her scowl turned into something much more menacing in the matter of a couple of seconds. "Are you trying to be funny? Okay, this isn't something that you should try being funny about, Castiel!" she yelled.

"I wasn't trying…" I sighed and defensively put my hands in front of me-with my limited knowledge of women, I knew that it did no good to argue, or make them laugh, while they were angry. "I didn't mean it like that, for one. And for two, I know nothing about what the something is, so don't bite my head off! That…unpleasant person only ever said good things about you, so I don't see what you're so damned worked up over."

"She's the one that MY ex cheated on me with! Not just once, either. Oh, no! From the very fucking beginning until I ended the relationship ten months ago! Every single break that he and I took, was because of HER! Every single fight that he and I had, that ended up with me bleeding was because of HER! And she told you that she was one of my best friends? She was NEVER my friend! And then she moved away, because I beat her ass in her front yard-right in front of her own mother, who just stood by watching, because she knew what was going on! Then they moved, apparently here! Where she met you, probably gave you nasty diseases because of how much of a slut she is! And because she moved, my ex decided to go crazy which led to-"

"STOP!" I yelled, as tears began to flood down her cheeks. I really couldn't stand watching her torment herself. "If it makes you feel any better, she played me for a fucking fool, too! She told me that she was a virgin-which was why we couldn't have sex-but cheated on me with this Austrialian beach boy named Dake. You wanna know what she said when Alexy found out and told me? _You just aren't man enough, Castiel._ Okay, this shit JUST happened a month before you got here. You don't see me bawling like a little baby over it! Get your shit together, Eva! You had plenty of opportunities to get out of that relationship, from what you've told me. But you kept going back! If that piece of shit hit you and cheated on you, why did you keep going back? Were you just stupid?"

The tears stopped flowing down her cheeks. She glared at me, as if she hated me, and I instantly regretted saying a single word. "You're a fucking asshole, you know that." She said as steadily as she could. Eva drew in a deep, long breath, then exhaled. "I guess you aren't wrong though. You know, you aren't the only person that's said something like that to me. I just loved him so much, and I couldn't just…not be with him. When he wasn't hurting me…he really was a great guy…and I couldn't have found anyone else…"

"He made you think that."

"It's true, though. Ten months later, I'm still single and crying like a baby."

I tried my best to raise an eyebrow at her, which I was rewarded with a miniscule chuckle from her. "So that's you and Lysander's thing. But honestly, you gained more than what you lost from walking away from that relationship."

"What could I have gained? I didn't gain anything."  
"Well, for one, you aren't being beaten across the head with a glass bottle. Two, you aren't being cheated on. Three, you don't have some guy telling you that you aren't worth anything, and can't find anyone else. Do I need to keep going?"

"I got cheated on because I didn't give him my virginity, he hit me because I confronted him about cheating on me! And I'm not worth anything, and I can't find anyone else!"

"You're like a brick wall! I got cheated on because I took no for an answer. But any man who doesn't take no for an answer, and any man who hits his girlfriend for confronting him about something that he was doing doesn't deserve to call himself a man at all. Pull your head out of your ass and get over it Eva. You're a very attractive girl. Attractive is an understatement, actually. I for one would love to get my hands on you but-"

"But what?" She crossed her arms on her chest, underneath her breasts, which made the cleavage that much more noticeable.

"I'm not going there."

"I'm too damaged, right? I have too many problems, too many scars, too many mood swings, too much belly fat, too much-"

"It isn't that at all. I don't care about that stuff. You're my best friend's cousin, and frankly the fact that you're a virgin kinda freaks me out."

Eva narrowed her eyes. "Why is that a problem?"

"I…I don't know. I've never been with a virgin-I mean the only girl that I've ever fucked turned out to be a slut. And the idea of hurting someone, you especially, doesn't seem very fun."

"I wasn't meaning that." She said through gritted teeth. "Why does my being related to Lysander prove to be a problem to you?"

"If we did things, he would be pissed. If things with us didn't work, he would be pissed! It isn't anything against you, I just don't want to ruin a friendship with one of the best friends that I've ever had. And aside from that, when the two of you stand beside each other, the resemblance is uncanny…"

For a moment, it looked like she was considering saying something back. If she had anything else to say she changed her mind. Eva picked her jacket up off of the floor and cradled it in her arms, like she would a child. With a sigh, she moved her bangs back out of her face to show her golden colored eye. "My genetics aren't my fault, Cas. My last name isn't my fault either. If my mom had decided to stick to tradition and give me years of torment for having the last name: Hooker, would that have made you feel better about it?"

"Not one bit." I struggled to stifle a giggle that was absolutely desperate to escape.

"May I have my notebook, please?" Lysander's voice said from behind me. When I turned to him, Demon pushed past his legs to sit on Eva's feet. I couldn't tell if he was angry-from possibly over hearing me and Eva, or just in a normal state of Lysanderness. His eyebrow was raised, arms crossed, and he almost seemed to have an agitated aura emitting from him. As I handed the notebook to him, Eva put her jacket back on and sat on my bed.

"Did you know that Eva is in a band?" I asked, hoping to take my mind off of what he had possibly heard.

"No, I did not." He replied, still looking just as agitated.

"You remember the band that She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named made us listen to, after she found out about us having a band, right?"

A small smile twitched on my best friend's face. "Oh, really? Your cover for What Have You Done, by Within Temptation was wonderful."

"Thanks! My personal favorite is B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down. A few months ago, the school's film club voted for us to be their project, and let us make an actual semi-professional music video for it. It was so much fun!"

Without a thought, I thrust my phone into Eva's small hands. "Find it. System of a Down is awesome. If it sucks though-"

"Did I suck at playing your guitar?" She asked, eyebrow raised curiously. She poked around on the screen for a few minutes before handing the phone back to me.

What I saw was exactly like the original video. Until the band was shown. Eva played lead guitar and sang Daron Malakian's vocals. A girl with waist length hair that started black at the roots for about half a foot until it hit platinum blonde for the tips sung Serj Tankian's lead vocals. When the camera did a side shot, it looked like the girl was at least seven months pregnant. There were two guys in the band: one had his light brown hair cut in the typical military crew cut, the other looked like an exact copy of John Dolmayan-his long, black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and his facial hair was groomed into a perfect goatee. When the video ended, I was completely floored. The music and vocals were flawless, and the video itself was pretty much an amazing tribute to the best band of the nineties. "I must say, I am impressed." Lysander stated. "How many performances have you guys done?"

Eva blushed, and Demon hopped up onto my bed and laid his head and paws across her legs. "I lost count after thirty." Eva giggled. My eyes widened-along with Lysander's-she'd played in more shows than her cousin. "We should get our bands together to play a show, someday!"

Lysander smiled down at his cousin. "That would be fantastic."

"Can I call them, right now?" she asked, running a hand through Demon's black fur. He offered a contented groan in response. Excitement began playing around in her blue eye again, it almost brought a smile to my face. Almost.

"Of course." Lysander said, happily handing his phone over to her.


End file.
